Keillor 2 Gold Mine (Keilor; K2), Plutonic Gold Mine (Plutonic Dome Project), Neds Creek Station, Meekatharra Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Keillor 2 Gold Mine (Keilor; K2)	Mine
Plutonic Gold Mine (Plutonic Dome Project)	Mine
Neds Creek Station	- not defined -
Meekatharra Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The largest and deepest of a collection of at least 8 small pits within a few kilometres in the Marymia area of the goldfield. About 40 kilometres north-east of the Plutonic mine. The K1 mine is 500 metres to the north-east. The K2 mine, also contains a 700 metre underground decline. The mine was the richest grade for the eastern part of the goldfield producing 964 000 tonnes at 4 g/t yielding 124 600 ounces of gold. Mining at K1 and K2 began in 1992 by Resolute Resources Ltd. The mine closed in 1998. The writer has found conflicting production figures across the sources for several mines on the field. The information above was the latest available for this mine at the time of writing.

At K2, gold was mined from two main planar lodes within amphibolite.

The gold mines in the north-east section of the goldfield was termed the Marymia area, whilst small mines east and south-east of the Plutonic mine at the far south-west section of the goldfield were called the Freshwater area. Someone had a fetish for fish in this area when naming gold mines, while the Marymia area many mines are named after birds.

The Marymia gold mines are part of the Marymia Inlier,in this is the Plutonic Well Greenstone Belt 60 kilometres long by 10 kilometres wide. The Marymia Inlier is a discrete fault bounded gneiss-greenstone-granitoid domain, north of the Yilgarn Craton. The Inlier differs from greenstone belts in the Yilgarn Craton, as the former has suffered more deformation and metamorphism, resulting in shearing, faulting and thrusting.

The greenstone belt is weathered down to 100 metres of metamorphosed and altered ultramafic, mafic and felsic igneous and sedimentary rocks. These have been faulted, folded and intruded by at least two phases of felsic intermediate porphyries. Gold is hosted in the metavolcanics and metasediments including BIF.

The K1 and K2 mines are part of a north-east plunging tight D2 antiform, truncated by granite. Deformation and metamorphism is complex. The gold is associated with intense silicification, and narrow variably deformed carbonate bearing veins, parallel to the D1 and D2 foliation. Most of the gold was found in structural favourable D2 sites in shear zones and folds. The veins were 1 to 3 cms thick, and locally up to 50 cms thick. They were discontinuous along the strike.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References